Vanessa Matsalla

Who are you, and what do you do?

My name is Vanessa Matsalla and I'm the owner and interior designer at Studio Matsalla boutique & design studio. We're a full service residential interior design firm and retail shop based out of the quaint SoCal beach-town Carlsbad, California. I basically help people make their homes look beautiful and their hearts happy.

What hardware do you use?

I use a 13" MacBook Pro to support the software needed to run my biz. I also carry around a Samsung NX300M to take photos at client site visits. I also always have my my iPhone 6 and iPad mini 3 on hand because they serve as a tablet during my meetings, in case we need to look up inspiration photos or show each other an idea we came across that we want to share.

And what software?

AutoCAD is essential for my kitchen and bathroom remodel projects. I use it to space plan and create elevations in order to communicate my design for contractors to build on, and for my clients to get a sense of what their future kitchen or bathroom is going to look like.

Pixelmator is my favorite tool. I create mood boards and collages to show my clients aesthetically how I'm pulling their spaces together. I could use Photoshop, but you can't beat the inexpensive price tag of Pixelmator.

Lastly, QuickBooks keeps my time billing and business ultra-organized. I don't know how I'd operate without it.